Saturday morning, we flew out from Albuquerque on ExpressJet, direct flight to Austin for the National Poetry Slam competitions. I hate flying, with the the lugging of the luggage and the stripping down at the security checkpoint. (It always takes longer when I get female security personnel, I don't know why.)
As we expected, stepping off the plane was like walking into a sauna. It doesn't take long at all to acclimatize to the dry air in New Mexico, and going back to 95% humidity is quite the treat. On top of that, of course, is that it's August and really damn hot, humidity aside.
We're staying at the Extended Stay America, which is expensive for what it is but it's downtown and close to the slam venues, and since we're staying here for a week it will be nice to have a fridge and microwave. The other poets from Farmington are staying at an Econo Lodge way out on the edge of town, but I didn't want to commute in for our competitions, and we don't have a car.
After enjoying the air conditioning of our room for a little while, we went out and took in some of the sights of downtown Austin.
Anyone know what this building is? It's cool.
A lot of cities have public art programs like this one. Someone, usually a business, sponsors the piece, and the artist gets an undecorated form, and they get to decorate it how they want. In Austin, they have guitars. In Kansas City, it's cows, and in Milwaukee, its "beasties." This guitar is decorated with old computer boards, with printer connectors for the struts.
There were a number of these horse-drawn carriages downtown. I also saw a few bicycle rickshaws, believe it or not, but didn't get a picture of any of them. I have only seen them on TV images of foreign countries up until now.
Downtown Austin is a justaposition. High class restaurants and night clubs are a block away from places like this, the Dirty Dog Bar, with a picture of a dog... um... being affectionate with a woman's leg for its sign. No, we didn't go in. There are also a number of massage parlors and tattoo joints that looked like each ink came with a free case of hepatitis. One massage parlor's sign said, "Modeling and Oriental Massage." Modeling. I'd never heard that take on it before.
It also became clear while walking around downtown Austin, that it has a serious, serious homeless problem. There were places where the homeless outnumbered the tourists, restaurant patrons, and bar-goers combined. Most of them were just hanging out, and a few were panhandling. Some of them were too busy talking to themselves to be bothered talking to other people. I'm going to take a stand and say that Austin has a problem with the homless, but the homeless apparently do not have a problem with Austin.
I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that Austin has a drinking problem. I have never seen so many bars and clubs in such a small vicinity. Many of the homeless carry coolers that they keep their cheap beer in, and I saw one man just tossing his empties in the grass. Drinking seems to be the local hobby, which is fine with me since I'm on vacation and not driving. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. But I worry for Austin as you would worry for a friend that's hitting the bottle too much. If there were an AA meeting for cities, Austin should go.
More guitar art. I couldn't get a full shot of it due to an unusually high concentration of homeless people congregating here.
Another pic of one of the horse-drawn carriages.
Another thing Austin has a lot of is really neat old buildings. They were built with style, and they have been well preserved.
By this time, I was getting pretty hungry, so we at a Vietnamese-Thai restaurant called Mekong River. Whenever we're out of town, Strix and I try to find cuisine that we couldn't get back home, and Vietnamese fits that category. After perusing the menu, however, we both got dishes that could be better described as Thai food. Strix had the pineapple curry with tofu. I had a dish called the "Rated R Shrimp." I think the "Rated R" part of the name refers to the spiciness of it. It's shrimp and vegetables, served in a sort of hot and sour sauce. It was very tasty. Strix enjoyed her curry, too, but had them box it up so she would have room for an order of sweet sticky rice, which we shared. If you've never had sticky rice desserts, you should. It's rice cooked down in a coconut milk mixture, and in this case it was topped with custard and a coconut cream sauce. Very good.
If you don't think you would like Vietnamese or Thai food, Mekong also has a New York style deli, right inside the restaurant.
We went back to the hotel for a while, mainly just to get out of the humidity and to nap off our dinner, then went back out at nine to a place called Antone's. Antone's is a dirty-looking blues bar, but it boasts a history of some pretty impressive performers and draws an eclectic and generally clean crowd. Ten bucks a head got us in to see Gary Clark Jr. He was truly amazing, and his bass player Nick Current also sang on a couple of songs, too.
Nick, by the way, looked like he wasn't sure if he wanted to be Brian Setzer or David Bowie, but he did know how to play and belt out the songs.
If you go to Antone's, don't bother with the mixed drinks. They're overpriced and taste a little watery. Stick to the bottled stuff.
Another good reason to come to Antone's: this is where some of slams are going to be. My bout is slated for a different venue, but I hope they have a bar. My poetry will probably sound better if the audience if half-sloshed.
More later. Ciao!
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